Pinchbeck United boss Lewis Thorogood is hopeful that his side can build on last weekend’s key victory over relegation rivals Selston as they prepare to take on Deeping Rangers on Saturday.
The Knights climbed out of the relegation zone after completing the double over Selston and are now targeting a derby victory over out-of-sorts Deeping at the Sir Halley (3pm).
Rangers are on a winless run of seven games in the Uhlsport UCL Premier Division North, having not picked up three points since seeing off Heanor back in October.
In contrast, Pinchbeck’s victory ended a streak of 11 league losses on the spin and moved them to within six points of their 13th-placed opponents.
“Deeping Rangers are obviously a good side and have been for a long while,” said Thorogood. “But they’ve been on a bit of a bad run lately.
“They’ll be looking at Saturday’s fixture and seeing it as a game they desperately want to win, it’s what you do in that situation.
“We played well against them in the 1-0 loss back in August, but this is a very different side to the one we faced back then.
“What I want to see from the lads is the same heart and desire we showed in the win at Selston last week.
“We looked much improved and played more like we did earlier on in the season when the results were more positive for us.
“Moving out of the relegation zone was a big boost for everyone at the club, but there’s a long way to go for us yet.
“If we’d have lost at Selston, the mood going into this one wouldn’t be ideal.
“But we’ve had a confidence boost and need to build on the victory now – and we’ve got a few games coming up over Christmas that we can look to take points from, too.”
Pinchbeck will have key man Neal Spafford back on Saturday after he recovered from contracting COVID-19, while his central defensive partner Nick Jackson should be fit after coming off injured not long after scoring the winning goal at Selston.
